Vila Real and Amadeu

We headed north today via Vila Real. It is a lovely town with some nice walks especially along the river.

We had lunch in a local tavern and next headed for Casa Mateus. We toured the gardens. Lovely!

We left for our accommodation and arrived to be greeted with afternoon tea. Two sisters run the hostel where we are staying. They are gorgeous. 

Ed's uncle Adriano

 Tiago and Claudia

 Amadeu and Joaquim

 Ed, Ana and their Grandfather

Next off to Amadeu's house for dinner. Alexandrina made food for an army. 

Sao Jacinto

Dropped Ed's mum off to the hairdressers so we kept going to Sao Jacinto. Had a lovely walkj and Ed talked about Joaquim's job driving a crane.

Porto

It was a beautiful day and we decided to go back to Porto. We walked the bridge from Gaia to Porto central and found somewhere for lunch.
We walked the main strip which was overflowing with people all shopping for a bargain with after Christmas sales. Mitchell finally found a pair of shoes.

Coimbra

Today was raining so we decided to stay close to home and visit Coimbra. We walked around a little bit, buying some souvenirs and decided to have some lunch. It was at The Solar Do Bacalhau. The kids had pizza whilst the rest of us had seafood.

My lunch bacalhau cooked in bread - delicious!

Ana out the front of the restaurant. 

We went walking up towards the university. It was very slippery and steep. We visited the Palace, Chapel, Library and Science Museum on campus. The library is very old and worth seeing. Sabrina and I were squeemish seeing conjoined twins in the science museum. 

 Inside the palace.

 The library.

 The chapel

 Conjoined twins inthe science museum.

Balaenoptera Physalus

Christmas tree in central Coimbra.

Roasting chestnuts. 

We stopped to have coffee and cake before heading home. 

Aveiro and Costa Nova

Headed off to Aveiro for lunch. We stopped in town and walked along the river checking out sone antique market stalls.

Lunch was a buffet at an Asian restaurant. The sushi was very good and you can have your selection of meat, seafood and vegetables cooked. Lunch was great.

After lunch we headed to Costa Nova. We enjoyed walking the boardwalk, looking at the lighthouse and lollypop houses.